Derbyshire's Chesney Hughes ruins Yorkshire party

Day one, Headingley: Derbyshire 302-4 v Yorkshire

England bowler Tim Bresnan had a hard day with Yorkshire against Derbyshire at HeadingleyPhoto: AFP

By Andrew Collomosse, at Headingley

10:14PM BST 29 Apr 2013

It should have been a day of White Rose celebrations: the 500th first-class match to be played at Headingley, just two days after Yorkshire’s famous against-the-odds victory against Durham.

Instead the day belonged to Derbyshire and to one man in particular, Chesney Hughes, a 22-year-old from Anguilla who qualified for England just before the start of the season.

Hughes, who first appeared in 2010, played only a solitary game during Derbyshire’s triumphal progress to the second division title last season.

So he was clearly intent on making up for last time when, after scoring only 24 from the middle order in his previous three knocks of the season, he was given the chance to open the innings after Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale elected to field first on a cold, overcast morning.

It looked like a sound call when Billy Godleman edged Tim Bresnan to third slip in the seventh over of the day with just 10 on the board. How were Yorkshire to know that it would be another 68 overs before they claimed a second scalp?

At first, in bitterly cold conditions, Hughes and Wayne Madsen were obliged to advance cautiously, the first 50 coming in 19 overs. But as the skies cleared and the supply of four balls increased Hughes began to exert his authority.

He reached his half-century, from 92 balls with 10 fours, and after being missed behind the wicket by the diving Jonny Bairstow on 70, he displayed his aggressive intent by hammering Liam Plunkett to the extra-cover boundary for his next scoring shot. He moved into the nineties by hooking Bresnan over long-leg for six and reached his century with a ­towering drive for six over long-on off Adil Rashid.

Madsen was content to play second fiddle, his 50 coming from 113 balls with six fours. He was also happy to look on in admiration as Hughes powered to his 150 with a third six, this time over long-off against Rashid.

The pair had added 258, just a single run below the championship record second-wicket stand at Headingley set in 2008 by Surrey’s Scott Newman and Mark Ramprakash, when Madsen edged Steve Patterson to second slip.

For once Shivnarine Chanderpaul did not hang around, nicking Rashid to slip, and when Wes Durston was caught in the gully off Plunkett, Derbyshire had lost three wickets for 11 runs in nine overs. Undeterred, Hughes eased past his previous highest first-class score of 167 and by the close had batted 351 minutes and faced 282 balls for his undefeated 171 with three sixes and 25 fours.

“Chesney was outstanding,” Gale said. “He hits the ball as hard as anyone on the circuit and can be very destructive. But I’ve never seen him play with as much discipline. It’s been a long, tough day. We weren’t at our best but we fought back in the last session and we’re still in this game.”